KIEV, April 20 (Xinhua) -- The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which monitors the situation in eastern Ukraine, said Friday that tensions in the region have escalated in the past week after a period of relative calm.
Alexander Hug, deputy chief monitor of the OSCE special monitoring mission to Ukraine, said that there was a 10-percent increase in the number of ceasefire violations in the past week, with an almost nine-fold increase in instances where heavy weapons were used.
"Last week, 11 civilians were injured in eastern Ukraine as a direct result of the sides' failure to comply with their obligations," Hug said in a video address.
According to him, the clashes between the conflicting parties have also caused damage to dozens of private houses and apartment buildings.
The conflict between government troops and pro-independence rebels in eastern Ukraine has been raging since April 2014, claiming close to 10,000 lives.
On March 30, a fresh round of ceasefire started in eastern Ukraine, helping to ease the hostilities for several weeks.
